Chicago loses Car Care expo to Vegas

Car Care World Expo has reversed its decision to book McCormick Place for 2013, becoming the first trade show to exit Chicago after a federal court ruling invalidated labor changes enacted by the state legislature last year.

"Until the work rules are on par with Las Vegas, it’s a no-go for us," said Eric Wulf, chief executive officer of the International Carwash Association, a Chicago-based trade group that has held its show in Las Vegas for the past five years. The 2013 show will now be held in Las Vegas.

The show would not have been one of Chicago’s largest, but it attracts about 6,000 exhibitors and attendees, who together would have spent an estimated $8.5 million in the area.

The car-wash equipment show has been in Las Vegas for the past five consecutive years and will be there in 2012. The show’s organizers reconsidered Chicago after the General Assembly last year imposed show-floor changes giving exhibitors the right to do more of their own booth setup.

Car Car exhibitors prefer to use their own staff to set up their specialized equipment, Wulf said.

“It’s something we’re able to do in Las Vegas quite freely,” he said.

Until five years ago, the show rotated, spending two years in Las Vegas and then one in Chicago or Orlando. It was last in Chicago in 2002.

McCormick Place officials have asked U.S. District Judge Ronald Guzman to postpone implementation of his March ruling that threw out the labor changes pending their appeal. He has not ruled on the request yet, but the new state-imposed rules have remained in place in the interim.

Six major trade shows filed statements in court stating a rollback could lead to an exodus.

Don Welsh, head of the Chicago Convention & Tourism Bureau, which books business into McCormick Place, called the Car Care exit a blow for the city.

"This is the perfectly sized group we are targeting to complement the big, mega groups," he said.

The two union organizations that mounted the court challenge, the Chicago Regional Council of Carpenters and Teamsters Local 727, assert that the Illinois General Assembly overstepped its bounds in changing work rules unilaterally and that any changes should have been negotiated.

Frank Libby, president of the carpenters council, has said he is ready to begin a dialogue.